Okay, so what if our first campaign didn’t go so well? All we have to do is try again. Maybe this time fortune will favor us.

I don’t think I could plan a better moment than realizing that the random SMG I found lying next to a dead guard’s body just happened to come with a suppressor, making it perfect for delivering headshots and destroying cameras without anyone being the wiser for it. That’s the kind of moment that can only happen when Hitman is adapted to roguelike mechanics.

It’s also weirdly liberating to play a Hitman game where I’m not overly concerned about things like getting detective or caught on camera. Sure, that will cause immediate trouble for me, but it won’t impact my score and I can always improvise my way out of a tricky situation. More importantly, it doesn’t matter if I have to kill guards in the process of getting my way out, because I’ll still get the win even if every single guard is dead at my feet.

I’m not about to play Hitman like a third-person shooter, but it’s nice.

I’ve made no secret of my love for Hitman and roguelikes. So when I heard that Hitman was introducing a roguelike “Freelancer” mode to the game, you better believe I was intrigued.

Some of the most fun I have playing a Hitman game comes from trying to salvage runs that have clearly gone wrong. Either I was too reckless and killed a target when there was a witness, or I was caught by a guard doing a naughty, or something else gave me away. Regardless, the systems have turned against me and I have to make use of my resources to turn them around.

It’s in those moments, where improvisation and quick thinking are put to the test, that Hitman generates those sequences that, win or lose, are hilarious/incredible enough to tell stories about to all of our friends. And for that reason, pairing those mechanics and systems with a rougelike structure makes perfect sense. Roguelikes are defined by the variance that comes from rolling the dice to see what challenges are generated for us. Like Hitman proper, they inspire creative thinking and force us to weigh the odds of success both short-term and long-term.

I couldn’t think of a better pairing.

This is it: The final Dreadzone campaign. Our mission is to destroy the generators powering the Dreadzone security and evacuate the heroes and audience members trapped by our insane captor.

It all comes down to this!

And that’s not just Ratchet: Deadlocked, but also the entire PS2 catalog of Ratchet and Clank games complete. I’m glad that people have turned around on this game specifically because in hindsight it’s still a well-constructed game that more than earned its place in franchise canon and gaming history.

Next week, we’ll start the Uncharted games, beginning with Drake’s Fortune. Remember, the PS3 is technically retro now.

If Dreadzone thinks that this Ghost Ship is any match for us, they’ve got another thing coming! And when we’re done here, we’re coming to finish it.

When someone like Vox sees everyone around him as a profit vector, is it really any surprise that he was willing to kill everyone in the Battledome if it meant that his peak viewership and ad revenue would go up?

Not in the slightest, which is why next time, we’ll finish this once and for all!

The last of the Exterminators has been exterminated and with that, the Dreadzone is coming to an end… or is it. I guess Vox still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

While I still think Ace’s sudden heel-face turn as he’s about to die comes off as a little rushed, in general, it serves to underline the big moral message that rests at the heart of this story, such as it is.

Even in the hypercapitalist world of Ratchet and Clank, Gleeman Vox represents a specific kind of greedy businessman, who sees everything and everyone as another avenue to generate profits. It’s telling that the moment his big star, Ace Hardlight, passes away, he immediately thinks to do the same thing to the next up-and-comer who captured the hearts of the fans, unaware that the very qualities that make Ratchet a celebrated hero are exactly why he would never agree to become another puppet.

It’s cliche, but it’s poetic. There’s a reason these old tropes still carry weight.

Only one more exterminator lies in our way: The fallen hero, Ace Hardlight. Washed up as he may be, we still need to qualify for the privilege of taking him down. Once we do, he won’t stand a chance.

Shout out to Ace Hardlight for being the only boss fight in the entire game to offer anything akin to a decent challenge. I still defeated him fairly easily, but he did manage to score a kill. That’s more than the other losers on his team can say.

One thing I can’t help but notice is that his voice seems different in his boss battle versus his cutscene audio. What probably happened is that his actor recorded the combat barks at a different time of day to the rest of the dialogue. As someone with a background in video production, something I learned is that our voices actually change subtly throughout the day. Our ears don’t notice, but when the voice is recorded it’s obvious.

Things you learn making videos.

Big Al has been shot, and Ace Hardlight (that tool) has sabotaged our escape plan. Unfortunately, we have no other recourse except to continue participating in Dreadzone, if only to buy a bit more time.

I must admit, as a child playing this game, I did not expect them to shoot, and possibly kill Al. You always assume he’s invincible because he’s your robot upgrade vendor and never takes the field. He always exists in your safe space.

But this is a reminder that our safe space was given to us by Dreadzone. We exist at the pleasure of Gleeman Vox and his empire. We are not safe.

Already, we are confronted with another Exterminator. Maybe this one will finally give us the challenge we seek.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense for a combat-focused Ratchet and Clank to scale down on the number of weapons. Inevitably, every game in the franchise has more than a few weapons that quickly lose relevance over the course of the adventure. With an arsenal as focused as this one, I find myself even using the Dual Vipers regularly.

Each weapon, from start to finish, has a function and purpose against the waves of enemies Dreadzone brings against us. Some get less use than others, but all have their uses. When the development team knows we have ready access to this kit, than they know they can design challenges around it.

Reactor’s had an unfortunate meltdown, so it’s time to progress to the next Dreadzone campaign.

In case you’re curious, here is the link to Brandon the Hedgehog aka He Who Wields the Toonblade.

I unironically enjoy these “which game is best” conversations. As long as the conversation comes from a place of love for the franchise, and we understand that even the worst Ratchet and Clank games are at least good games (aside from Secret Agent Clank), then we can focus on the merits of each one. It’s the same with any long-running franchise, really.

The second exterminator has stepped up to the plate, but he doesn’t get much of a… reaction for us.

Aha. Aha. Aha. Ah-HAAAAH!

I had forgotten how mediocre all of the bosses in this combat-focused Ratchet and Clank game were. None of their attacks are particularly dangerous, and their own health bars melt in no time, even on this higher difficult mode I’ve chosen for myself.

It’s only odd because of Deadlocked’s increased focus on gunplay versus raw platforming. One would expect the Exterminators to have more varied and interesting attack patterns to make them stand out as something other than normal enemies with larger hitboxes and a pile of stats.

Perhaps there just wasn’t enough time to give them the love and care they needed to truly shine.